The unfortunate paradox of ‘bored youths’ in interesting times

A recent article in The Star reported that Malaysia is the home to the world's most bored youths, according to an international survey by MTV at approximately 83%.

Guess what was the most common activity in relation to their boredom? No surprise, the endless scrolling on their social media news feeds.

As much as the idea of "bored youths" seems to connote that boredom is a terrible thing, it can also be perceived from an optimistic sense.

To a certain extent, boredom is a luxury – an unsung privilege because it indicates the space for contemplation of thoughts and ideas that can be translated into pursuing whatever that is closer to one's heart, in the fulfilment of an existing void that yearns for a bigger purpose.

As a proponent of this notion, the great contemporary Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Žižek echoed in a live webchat by The Guardian: "I think boredom is the beginning of every authentic act.

"Kierkegaard, one of my favourite thinkers, wrote that it is out of boredom, boredom of being alone, that God created the world. Then Adam was bored, so God created Eve. Then lonely people got bored, they created communities.

"Then we, Europeans, got bored, we engaged in colonialism. Now we are bored on our Earth, we want to travel into space. Boredom opens up the space, for new engagements. Without boredom, no creativity. If you are not bored, you just stupidly enjoy the situation in which you are."

Yet, what we are observing today among Malaysian youths is the inability to use boredom to their own advantage. Social media is being used as a medium to pass the time of boredom instead of providing the solution to alleviate themselves from it.

In a BBC interview, Dr Teresa Benton from the University of East Anglia argued that kids should actually be allowed to be bored once in a while, because it has its introspective qualities that help aid the thinking process and cultivate imagination.

To her, boredom is a "very creative state".  However, she warns that it "tends to short circuit that process and the development of creative capacity" due to the compulsive resorting to the digital screen to fill in the vacuum of boredom.

Hence, there is what we can call, productive or dangerous boredom. As studies show, many youths today are unfortunately more inclined to be trapped by the latter.

Most would say that the root of all evil is the very existence of social media and the rapid progress of technology that has made people compulsively dependent on it, caught in an alternative universe that is a false reality known as the social web.

To what extent this is true, remains debatable.

In my opinion, this concept of a false reality is the end product of "dangerous boredom".

On the other hand, when these two worlds in the midst of the digital era are married together, it essentially creates a seamless interconnectivity for dynamic development, on both personal and also community level.

The best of all, it gives one the liberty to pursue their own interests through the countless varieties of information provided – almost as if you are giving a young person this remarkable paintbrush, and he or she can create the picture of their own aspirations, tailored by the imagination of desire.

However, this does not seem to be the collective perspective on annihilating the bad sort of boredom. To me, blaming the general, genuine ignorance of our "bored youths" is still running away from the actual problem.

We are yet to confront the burning question – when will the young ones of this nation break away from the paternalistic culture of our society?

It is not like young people, such as myself, are actually allowed to explore any avenue of our own interest, with the absolute freedom to pursue them.

In seeking parental approval, one would have to narrow down the choices that do not seem so "risky" or "detrimental" to one's own future.

Especially in these rather interesting times in Malaysia, I am quite sure that a lot of young people would understand what I am implying as that is what the current state of politics has done to our society.

It is with the excessive politicisation that has entrenched our daily lives, youth engagement for learning experiences is generally being demonised, whether volunteerism or activism.

I supposed the one thing that these two share in common is that they serve the purpose of creating awareness of some problems. These forms of activity also act as a platform for critical evaluation of current affairs, which occasionally includes the pointing of fingers towards scrutinising the establishment order and calling for action from the powerful and influential.

Often even the slightest indication of political innuendo seems rather harmful and especially in contemporary times, it has proven to be so.

An incredible testament to this are laws like the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), the Sedition Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

Perhaps it does not apply to other gestures of volunteerism but we cannot overlook that lots of young people today take a deep interest in the evolution of the nation's landscape, be it politically or socially.

It is exactly here, where the heart of an existing paradox of "bored youths" in interesting times lies and needs to be addressed.

While our current leaders seem to think that the youth should concentrate on being students only focusing on good grades, the prevailing vocation for building the country's future leaders is starting to seem rather insincere.

What they keep failing to realise is that knowledge is truly developed in its attainment when it extends beyond the campus grounds, combined with experience – that is the reason we need to fight for the restoration of academic freedom.

Without it, boredom may just be what the Malaysian youth culture is all about in the long run. – October 15, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.